How to maintain languages at B2

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94000d
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How to maintain languages at B2

Postby 94000d » Sat Apr 03, 2021 9:21 pm

I'm particularly interested in the question of how to get input at this level, like TV and books. It seems like TV has a lot of informal vocabulary and idioms, and books have lots of obscure words.
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Re: How to maintain languages at B2

Postby Pegasusangel » Sun Apr 04, 2021 12:03 am

I don't consider myself B2 but most of my apps I work with do on some of my languages. But I have friends who are at B2 and they utilize Iitalki to maintain and grow their languages. Also Books and shows in targeet languages are good. Another thing you can do is translate or even teach someone with the native language you are looking at your language by using theirs (and learning from them as well).
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Re: How to maintain languages at B2

Postby leosmith » Sun Apr 04, 2021 2:11 am

94000d wrote:I'm particularly interested in the question of how to get input at this level, like TV and books. It seems like TV has a lot of informal vocabulary and idioms, and books have lots of obscure words.

Which language(s) and what are your goals?
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Re: How to maintain languages at B2

Postby Cavesa » Sun Apr 04, 2021 10:55 am

94000d wrote:I'm particularly interested in the question of how to get input at this level, like TV and books. It seems like TV has a lot of informal vocabulary and idioms, and books have lots of obscure words.


Of course, you're B2 and not C1 or C2. It is normal a lot of stuff looks difficult. But you are at the ideal starting point. If you want to primarily have fun in the language (you've earned it!), then maintenance and slow (or less slow) progress are extremely similar.

Start with easier books and tv series. A perfect starting point can be a tv series you already know and like, just in a new language. A book that you already know in another language and love (that's why so many people start with Harry Potter, but there are many other options). Easier genres rather than very complex classics, longer things are also better to start with (you get used to one style, set of actors, or writer, improve, and later switch to something else.)

If something feels hard, remember that initial difficulties are totally normal. If it is too hard, just put it aside and return to it later. You should notice the first "jump" of improvement after a few episodes of a tv series or a few dozen pages, that's the panic wearing off :-) Then after approximately one season of a tv series and one or two books. Than gradually, at a pace that may be hard to notice daily or weekly.

So, to make it more clear:
1.fun and interest in the content should be the priority. You need to spend a lot of time on these activities, so don't get bored
2.create an acceptable learning curve, don't demand perfection from yourself right away
3.spend hundreds of hours maintaining, and you're likely to end up accidentally in the C levels, at least comprehension wise :-)
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94000d
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Re: How to maintain languages at B2

Postby 94000d » Sun Apr 04, 2021 6:07 pm

leosmith wrote:
94000d wrote:I'm particularly interested in the question of how to get input at this level, like TV and books. It seems like TV has a lot of informal vocabulary and idioms, and books have lots of obscure words.

Which language(s) and what are your goals?


Spanish and Korean at B2, balanced between all four skills.
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Re: How to maintain languages at B2

Postby einzelne » Sun Apr 04, 2021 10:33 pm

How much time do you have on average for languages per day? At any rate, I think you should distribute your time between two languages in something like 80-20 %. That basically means that you maintain one language by reviewing the material and actively work on expanding your skills in another. You can rotate them time and then but not too often, if you want to see results.

Here I described my vision on how to work with unadapted materials.

I don't know how much exposure to unadapted materials you had but in any case you should be prepared for a long road. I tend to think that real learning just starts once you finished your textbooks. Textbooks are just a warm-up.
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Re: How to maintain languages at B2

Postby leosmith » Mon Apr 05, 2021 2:31 am

In that case, I've got a set of 100 X 6 min Venezuelan Spanish audio conversations with transcripts that might be a good next step for you, free to read/listen to here. Also, TTMIK gave gave us permission to post their Iyagi series, audio conversations with transcripts, here. I like to read it on OPLingo because I like getting mouse-over definitions, color coding words, etc, but ymmv. It's a great series either way.

Conversation: I'd definitely recommend talking to native speakers on a regular basis - very doable at B2 for both languages.

Reading: As a native English speaker, I think reading Spanish native material at B2 is a bit hard but doable. Korean is a different story. One possibility is to stick with a specific genre until you get on top of it, then move to the next. I used to read news articles about science a lot, and it wasn't too long before I got comfortable with it. But I never followed through, got sidetracked, and still don't have great reading skills. Other than that, pick and choose native material for difficulty, or look for intermediate stuff.

Listening: With Spanish, you will find some native material is pretty comprehensible, so you can pick and choose for difficulty. Korean is a lot harder for me. The best listening practice I get is definitely during conversation. I watch a lot of native material videos too, and listen to some radio, but it is much less comprehensible.

Writing: I don't spend much time on writing because I don't need it very often. I do simple scriptorium sessions, and that's it. But I recommend writing essays and getting corrections if this is important to you. There are some Spanish teachers on OPLingo who really like to correct essays, but few Korean essays correctors there. You might try Lang8.
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